Team Epi-Aid: Graduate Student Assistance with Urgent Public Health Response

Abstract

Team Epi-Aid provides graduate students with practical public health experience through participation in outbreak investigations and other applied projects with state and local health departments in North Carolina. It is an initiative of the North Carolina Center for Public Health Preparedness in the North Carolina Institute for Public Health at the University of North Carolina School of Public Health. The program allows state and local health departments access to volunteers and technical expertise from the university when they need assistance. It requires close collaboration with state and county health departments. Team Epi-Aid provides the opportunity for integrated learning with students and faculty within the departments of the School of Public Health, and through recent expansion, within the schools of Medicine and Pharmacy. Orientations are conducted each semester and formal training is provided as needed. Team Epi-Aid has been popular, with 58 active student participants contributing 1,465 hours of service during the initiative's first 21 months.

References

Institute of Medicine (US). Committee on Assuring the Health of the Public in the 21st Century: The future of the public's health in the 21st century. Washington: National Academies Press; 2003.

Davis

Lederberg

, Institute of Medicine. Public health systems and emerging infections: Assessing the capabilities of the public and private sectors. Forum on Emerging Infections Workshop summary. Washington: National Academies Press; 2000. Also available from: URL: http://www.nap.edu/catalog/9869.html

Assessment of the epidemiologic capacity in state and territorial health departments—United States, 2001. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2003;52(43):1049–51.

Epidemiologist shortages: CIDRAP's role in meeting increasing needs. Vol. 2003. Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, University of Minnesota; 2003. Also available from: URL: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/center/mission/articles/cste.html

Providing a framework for public health bioterrorism preparedness: Public health workforce, collaboration, and infrastructure issues. Vol. 2003. Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, University of Minnesota; 2003. Also available from: URL: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/center/mission/papers/btworkforce.html

Terrorism preparedness in state health departments—United States, 2001–2003. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2003;52(43):1051–3.

Frey

Remington

Lengerich

. Evaluation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's chronic disease state-based epidemiology for public health program support (STEPPS) program. J Public Health Manag Pract 2003;9:266–74.

Phillips

Maetz

Hataway

. Building chronic disease epidemiology capacity in a state health department: A partnership with a school of public health. Public Health Rep 2001;116:630–2.